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Who Dey Revolution Manifesto

Preamble

IN THIS TIME of perpetual Cincinnati Bengals incompetence and futility, with zero playoff wins in the nineteen seasons since the WhoDeyRevolution Godfather, Paul Brown, passed away in 1991 and handed the team to his fortunate son, the Despot, Mike Brown;

Introduction

WE, the members of the Who Dey Revolution, in our fervent dedication to the Cincinnati Bengals and fanatical desire to transform our hometown team into perpetual Super Bowl contenders, call for a popular revolution of fans to demand comprehensive reform to the managerial decisions and approach of Cincinnati Bengals ownership, management, staff and players, and hereby call for the adoption of the following Who Dey Revolution Manifesto:

Manifesto Demands

THAT the Mike Brown, Katie Blackburn, Marvin Lewis, along with every other member of the Bengals management, staff and personnel, state publicly to all Bengals fans, “I will do everything in my power to help the Cincinnati Bengals win a Super Bowl;”

THAT Mike Brown will hire a general manager, drastically expand the scouting department and relinquish all control of player personnel;

THAT all training, rehabilitation and medical facilities are considered best-in-class compared to other NFL teams;

THAT the management fill the team only with players who fit the system, both mentally and physically, and are not reluctant to makes changes to player personnel when needed, regardless of cost or loyalty concerns;

THAT offensive and defensive line depth is considered the top priority for all player personnel decisions;

THAT all decisions made by ownership, management, staff and players, both on and off the field, are judged only by this criterion: “Does this help the Cincinnati Bengals win a Super Bowl?”

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May 14, 2008

Brooks Groin Injury Lingering???

It has been reported that Ahmad Brooks was unable to participate in voluntary workouts because of
lingering pains associated with his season ending groin injury. To refresh your memories, Brooks suffered an injury during the Cleveland shootout on September 16th, 2007. Questions regarding the return of Brooks surrounded the team for several weeks ensuing this game, ending with him being placed on the injured reserve. Now it is March 2008, and the injury is bad enough to keep him from working out with the rest of the team. These are the facts, but now I would like to move along to the speculation.

It has been almost 8 months exactly since the injury took place, which should be plenty of time for a healthy young man to completely rehab. Carson Palmer recovered from a decimated knee in less time than that (remember his miraculous recovery, and his domination of the Packers in preseason?) I only see a few possible reasons for Ahmad to be missing workouts:

His injury was misdiagnosed and he tried to come back for a few weeks, only to injure himself even worse and prolong his recovery.

There is some truth to his legal allegations, and Hobson was instructed to make up a reason for his non-participation.

I am completely blowing this situation out of proportion.

If this issue continues, I am going to place all my chips on possibility #1. If so, this could be a huge issue problem. I would hate to see a guy who can do this have to spend another season on the sidelines.

Misdiagnosed injuries are not an uncommon occurrence with the Bengals medical staff. The players who
immediately come to mind are Chris Perry, Levi Jones, and Willie Anderson. All three were apparently misdiagnosed by the Bengals medical staff, which created even bigger problems for their physical well being. Perry actually underwent surgery on a misdiagnosed knee injury. Levi had issues with pain in his knee, which was completely ignored by the Bengals staff. He only found out the extent of his problems when he went to a training facility back in Arizona, leading him to claim that he lost 3 months of rehab time due to the Bengals staff. And Willie Anderson almost missed the beginning of last season because of a foot injury that was not identified until the end of the summer. This was no small matter, considering it caused Big Willie to snap his 116 game starting streak when he missed the Kansas City game in week 6 (which we very well could have won with a healthy Willie.)

To me this is a glaring problem that needs to be addressed regardless of the extent of Brooks' injury. Injuries are the one thing that can cripple a football team more than anything else. Having top notch doctors should be a #1 priority for any organization whose success depends on the physical wellbeing of its employees. Just as a reference, lets take a look at the medical staff of the Bengals and compare it to that of a successful organization. This is much more disturbing to me than lack of numbers in our scouting department:

BENGALS STAFF

Paul Sparling - Athletic Trainer

Nick Cosgray - Director of Rehabilitation/Assistant Athletic Trainer

Bryan Dykhuizan - Assistant Athletic Trainer

COLTS STAFF

Hunter Smith - Head Athletic Trainer

Dave Hammer - Associate Head Athletic Trainer

Erin Barill - Director of Rehabilitation

Dave Walston - Assistant Athletic Trainer

Bryant Baugh - Assistant Athletic Trainer

Arthur C. Rettig, MD - Orthopedic Surgeon

Gary Misamore, MD - Orthopedic Surgeon

Tom Klootwyk, MD - Orthopedic Surgeon

Doug Robertson, MD - Physician

Pat Kersey, MD - Physician

Stacey Conrad, DC - Team Chiropractor

Although we do have a little bit of depth and flexibility at the
linebacker position, we still cannot afford to lose the size and speed
of Brooks again. If this injury lingers into the season, we'd better
pray to God that Rashad Jeantucky stays healthy or we will be in
trouble for sure.

So let our voices be heard by Mike Brown and Katie Blackburn. Join the Who Dey Revolution and demand that they run this team like the professional organizations that it competes against.

That comparison between ours and the Colts' training staffs is stunning. Like you said, the training staff disparity is one thing but having Mad Mike's Bargain Basement in charge of the health care is just shameful. Seems to me the Colts also have one of them there GMs.